the ugly duckling - the changing face of testing
Post on 06-Dec-2014
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T Ashokash@stagsoftware.com in.linkedin.com/in/AshokSTAG
“The Ugly Duckling”The changing face of testing
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
The story tells of a homely little bird born in a barnyard who suffers abuse from his neighbors, until much to his delight (and to the surprise of others), he matures into a graceful swan, the most beautiful bird of all.
The story is beloved around the world as a tale about personal transformation for the better.
"The Ugly Duckling" is a literary fairy tale by
Hans Christian Anderson.
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
Once upon a time, there lived Joe, a quiet hard-working soul. He was assigned to check if the product worked fine. He was part of the dev team and shared the environment with them. He did whatever he could, to find bugs in the product. The manager used him to test & retest and the good soul put the bugs on the table. The engineering team picked up what they could fix but told him to be quiet if he raised his voice. The product was simple, the process ad-hoc/lightweight, and tools were not very many. Joe worked tirelessly, was voiceless but still did his best...
He was the black “duck”...
As time went by, things changed.. and Joe also changed....
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
More Joe’s were added, the team grew, and they became an independent team. They setup systems, trained better and found more and better bugs. Their collective voice was heard.
DevQA
Dev QA Dev QA Dev QA
He also found that he had teams outside his company and also a bunch of freelance testers on the Internet...
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
... wanted more at lower cost
... wanted quicker turnaround
... wanted faster ramp-up
... expected higher productivity
His customer C.Omer saw results & wanted more...
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
Joe figured out that “Hard work is not enough anymore”
Joe & co are recognized for the value they deliver, not for the effort they put in.
Joe & co now work on fixed price.
Joe & co not has only deliver work on time, they also give SLA guarantees.
$
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
Joe understood C.Omer expects higher quality. He started to focus on non-functional tests.
Functionality
Load, stress
Performance
Security, Usability
…
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
Joe figured that he needed specialists & built specialized teams.
A team
Multiple specialized teams..to
Certifications became popular.
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
Joe also realized that every member needs to be multi-skilled.
Single skilled -> Multi-skilled
Broad based testing skillsTooling skillsSpecific domain skillsDeeper technology skills
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
Joe &Co’s work was recognized and attitude towards them changed..
Do what I say(authoritarian)
Tell me what to do(consultative)
to
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
Joe & Co realized that test data needs to reflect real life data and he needed larger data sets. He invested in data creation and population tools.
In some cases, he needed dedicated test infrastructure. He had bigger budgets now.He also figured that in some cases “cloud” was helpful.
Test infrastructure became complex.... multiple distributed systems... higher dependency on third party software
Now Joe had to worry about infrastructure & how to optimize the same.
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
The process models changed and Joe had to adapt..
Monolithic & Slow to Sliced & Agile
Testing big chunks to multiple byte sized
Document based to Intelligent understanding based
Intrinsic measures to Extrinsic measures
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
Technology evolved rapidly and life became more interesting..
Distributed applications
Service based applications
Numerous specialized technologies
Rapid obsolescence rate
Open source became mainstream...
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
Distributed marketplace – Differing needs, sensitivities, tolerances
Distributed development – Differing styles,processes,expectations
Distributed infrastructure–Dependencies, availabilities
Distributed deployment –Multiple failure points
Co-existence – Multiple applications & technologies: Old & New
Place Shifting
Systemic changes were happening and Joe evolved.
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
Now Joe has a large team(own & contracted), distributed across the world, with dedicated complex infrastructure, plethora of tools , a multi-skilled & certified team, validating builds by the hour, working across a wide spectrum of domains and technologies conforming to a variety of process models and test technologies.
C.Omer is still breathing down his neck with higher expectations.
But Joe is in control and enjoying every moment. He is confident that he can handle any complex testing job. He is widely respected and admired.
He had evolved into a “beautiful swan”.
Copyright 2011 STAG Software Private Limited. All rights reserved. www.stagsoftware.com
Thank you!
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This was presented as a keynote talk at SoftTec 2010 Conference, Bangalore.
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